Unusual
by fyenale
Summary: College!AU. Kuroko met someone who is able to notice him, despite his lack of presence.


_Written for akakuroweek2015 day 7 in tumblr. I was gonna write teacher x student but...does this count as one? This is so rushed and not beta'ed and ended weirdly I'm so sorry_

It all started when Kuroko was asked to become a teaching assistant for writing class.

He didn't quite understand why the professor chose him of all people. Sure, he had good grades from that class, but he was not suited for this job, what with his lack of presence. He was certain the students wouldn't notice him if he ever had to teach. As he asked his professor about it,

"There's no one else available. Don't worry, I will not ask you to teach in front of the class. I just need you to help me grade since the class is pretty big this year. Oh, and come to the classes too of course. Will you help me?"

With such a blinding smile from her, Kuroko couldn't deny and ended up accepting it.

Kuroko found himself standing outside the class a month after. The schedule was conveniently on his free day, so he didn't have to go back and forth between buildings (the writing class was in the west part of the campus, while his current classes was mainly on the eastern side). He peeked through the small window on the door to see that the participant was indeed larger than when he was still in it. He also noticed that his professor was already inside fussing over her laptop. With a small sigh, he entered the classroom to help her.

The class went like what he expected. Everyone was surprised when the professor introduced him as the teaching assistant. He then took a seat near the door and listened quietly to the first lecture. The students were at first still giving him glances with bewildered eyes, but as the lecture progressed, they began to forget he even existed in the first place. Then something he didn't expected happen, he felt someone staring at him.

Kuroko frowned. That was unusual. Since he was used being not noticed, he could feel when people pay attention to him (it usually only happened when he talked to them first, though). The classroom was the stadium seating style, so he shouldn't be blocking anyone's sight (he was also not that tall, unfortunately). He turned his head to find out who was able to notice him and found a pair of red eyes staring at him. As their eyes met, the student with equally red hair smiled at him. Kuroko blinked, momentarily shocked before hesitantly returning the smile.

The professor suddenly announced the end of class and began tidying up her things. He quickly stood up to help her again while the students emptied the class. When he was done, the red haired student was no longer there.

For the next sessions, he didn't feel the student staring at him when lecture was ongoing, but rather when he entered the class. And every time, he would smile at him, which he couldn't help but give a smile back despite his slight discomfort (he was a polite member of society, after all). Other than that, the class wasn't very special. As the professor talked, he would do his own assignments or proofread the students' works to help on her grading. He was actually curious of the red haired student, but he wasn't the type to approach people, especially just because he wanted to know why he was able to notice him easily.

It wasn't after two months after the class started that he finally met the intriguing student.

Surprisingly he met him not in class, but when he was sitting on the library, spending time reading his newly bought novel while waiting for his next class to start. He heard the seat in front of him being pulled and when he looked up he was greeted by the now familiar red eyes.

He took a seat in front of him and greeted him, in which Kuroko automatically greeted back. Kuroko didn't notice he was staring at him until the student asked if something was wrong. He then asked the question he had been keeping all this time.

"Ah, I guess I could say that I have good eyes. But I was surprised that other people can't notice someone as stunning as you."

If Kuroko had been drinking, he would have choked.

Kuroko managed to utter a bewildered 'thank you'. The student then introduced himself as Akashi Seijuurou and nonchalantly smiled like he didn't just praise him out of the blue.

His phone vibrated a few moments later (He had set an alarm to notify him when class is about to start). He then gathered his belongings and excused himself. Still feeling slightly shocked with the whole event, he walked fast and exited the library.

The next time he talked with Akashi again was a few days before writing class.

By then, he had noticed that Akashi was that one student who always wrote perfectly. Good grammar, varied use of vocabulary, smooth transition in presenting ideas, nailing the theme and requirement on every assignment. Perfect. He was always amazed as he proofread Akashi's work. Kuroko wondered why Akashi even took this class.

He was once again spending time on the library, this time waiting for Kagami to show up (they had a promise to review notes for upcoming test together). Akashi showed up again before him, and like before, sat in front of him.

"Can I bother you for a moment?"

Kuroko didn't even have time to respond before the other produced a sheet of paper and presented it to him. "If it's not too much trouble, could you read this for me? I'm not sure if my current writing is what the professor was expecting."

Kuroko stared at the paper skeptically, he was sure the writing would be perfect like always but took it anyway. He then started reading and sure enough, it was flawless, as far as he was concerned.

"I have nothing to add, it's perfect." Kuroko gave the paper back to Akashi. "You know, I have been proofreading students' works and yours are always the best. I don't think you need to worry."

Akashi smiled. "Thank you. But I think there's nothing wrong with being cautious." He then stood up again. "Besides, this gives me a reason to talk more to you."

Akashi excused himself and Kuroko could only stare at his retreating back with wide eyes.

When Kagami finally arrived, he was still staring at the library door.

It turned out that Akashi did ask him to read his assignments again, but only for a couple of times (and every single one of them was perfect). Akashi always showed up on Thursdays (when he was waiting for his class) and they managed small talks about classes and books (they turned out having same taste in novels, Kuroko had a longer list of read-next after that). Fortunately, Akashi didn't throw out any lines to him anymore, but he was still staring and smiling at him mysteriously. It didn't bother him that much anymore, though

Kuroko didn't know when did being mildly concerned about Akashi's flirting turned to slightly enjoying his presence.

He suspected it was because the man smelled faintly of vanilla.

The day came when his professor was sick and he had to cover her.

She kept her words, however, and told him he didn't need to teach the class. Instead, he was to give a short assignment and have it collected by the end of the class. Announcing it to the class might prove challenging by itself, Kuroko thought. He went to the front of the class anyway and took the mic.

As expected, a ruckus happened (both because there's no lecture and because they were surprised Kuroko 'appeared out of nowhere'). He calmly knocked on the table to get them to quiet down, but it was still pretty noisy.

He was surprised when Akashi stood up and walked down to him.

As if a spell was put upon the class, everyone quieted down and stared at Akashi standing right before Kuroko. Contrary to him, Akashi managed to gain attention from everyone just by appearing.

He did feel a bit jealous.

"Please continue with what you wanted to say."

Kuroko made an 'ah' sound before relaying the message from his professor. This time people listened to him and some grumbles about the assignment was heard. Kuroko put the mic back to its place and looked at Akashi.

"Thank you, Akashi-kun."

"It's nothing. They should've respected you more." Akashi said this while frowning slightly. "And does this mean if we finished it early we can leave the class?"

"Yes, of course."

"I'm glad to hear it." Akashi smiled then started walking back to his seat while muttering something that Kuroko couldn't hear because of the class was back in being noisy.

He shrugged and decided to sat on the teacher's seat.

An hour later, most of the students had finished their job and began putting their works on the teacher's desk (some of them squeaked when they noticed Kuroko, again). He saw Akashi still sitting when the last of the students were filling out. Weird, Kuroko thought Akashi would be the type to finish things quickly. But when there are only the two of them, Akashi finally raised from his seat and went down.

"I thought you would finish earlier." Kuroko commented as Akashi put his work to the pile. Akashi glanced at Kuroko and smiled.

"I did finish earlier, but I wanted to wait for you."

He didn't just experience a heart flip.

"...and why is that?"

Akashi rummaged on his bag and showed him a pamphlet of a cafe near campus. A glass of vanilla milkshake was shown on it with additional note of discount.

Oh.

"I always go to this cafe for coffee after class. I saw this while I was in there and I remember you that you like this particular drink. Would you like to go with me?"

Kuroko should be concerned on not remembering when he even mentioned that he liked vanilla milkshake to the red head, but he was too distracted with the tasty looking picture and the word 'discount'.

And of course the fact that this could be considered as an invitation for a date.

He couldn't stop a smile from appearing on his face. "I would love to."


End file.
